One of Alfred Hitchcock’s early mysteries, before his finesse at balancing suspense and dark humor was truly defined. The Lady Vanishes begins like many sassy, talky pictures of its day, with slapstick choreography and suggestive banter. Once the main players are established the real action starts up, but even in the most perilous scenes the characters never lose their talent for witty innuendo. The plot revolves around the disappearance of a woman from a speeding train, where all the passengers and crew deny having seen her on board. It’s a set-up that’s been rehashed many ways since (most recently obvious in the Jodie Foster bomb Flightplan). Impressively, the familiar foundation and final plot twists are still surprising and effective in a time of M. Night Shyamalan backlash. Not as ominous as Hitch’s more signature movies, but still quite clever and fun.

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